What to Do When Your Clients Want You

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Do your customers ever ask that you personally get involved in their account?   If so, one of the best things you can do to improve the value of your business (and your life) is to get your employees to treat your customers as…

Enhancing the Value of a Distribution Business

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Converting a distributor or reseller into a high-value enterprise might appear to be a formidable undertaking. Distributors typically don't command substantial valuations, as potential buyers often perceive them as susceptible to price wars…

One Overlooked Metric That Could Transform Your Company’s Value

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You know gross margin impacts your profit, but have you considered the impact it has on the value of your company? When assessing your company’s value, acquirers and investors will often scrutinize your gross profit margin. Gross profit…

5 Strategies for Identifying Innovative Candidates to Replace Yourself as Founder

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In 2012, Jaclyn Johnson founded Create & Cultivate, a media company that educates and inspires women to succeed in business. By 2018, Johnson had grown Create & Cultivate to eight employees when an acquirer offered her a staggering…

How to Get Your Customers to Pay for New Ideas

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There is never enough money to invest in developing products when you’re running a self-funded business. When you’re running your company out of cash flow, most of your resources go into selling your existing products and services, leaving…
Free at Last

5 Ways to Get Your Business to Run Without You

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Some owners focus on growing their profits, while others are obsessed with salesgoals. Have you ever considered making it your primary goal to set up your business so that it can thrive and grow without you? A business not dependent on its…
Paternity

Run Your Business Like You’re Going on Maternity (or Paternity) Leave

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How well does your company run when you don’t show up for work? The answer to this question has a significant impact on the value of your business. Suppose your company could survive your absence for a while. In that case, you will score…
One-Stop Shop

The Downside of Being a “One-Stop-Shop”

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Before Jeff Bezos & Co. blew up traditional distribution channels, there was some value in being the local guy or gal. Being the local product retailer was a good business and being a regional distributor of a popular line could make you…
Strength Becomes Your Weakness

How Your Greatest Strength Becomes Your Weakness

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What’s your greatest strength as a CEO? Sales? Marketing? Operations? Whatever you do well, know that it might become your Achilles’ heel. As owners, we tend to invest in areas where we know we’re weak. We know we have limited…